Cows - Farts & Burps

Burping and farting cattle allowed to run loose on the farm!

Picture ©zakgirlsfarm 2009

Do the farts and burps of cattle worldwide really make all that much difference to the greenhouse effect?

What do you believe?

If we plug all cattle at both ends, could we seriously see this making a difference to the world's problems on climate change? Really? Are we serious?

In Stock & land's 6 of November article entitled, “Livestock emission figures grossly exaggerated”, the NSW Farmers Association purport that new research indicates greenhouse gas emissions have been grossly exaggerated. Nah! They woudn't lies to us! Would they? What possible other motive could they have? :)

Rumor has it, that a peer reviewed study shows cattle make up only 3% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and 56.6% fossil fuel use and other sources sector? Hmm, my math is pretty average so that’s about definitely “more than triple - and the rest!”

Now, that would have me think - perhaps we should be more concerned about how many vehicles we have on the roads and how they are run. Could this be an argument for changing the fuel we use in those vehicles? Nah! That shouldn't be allowed to happen! That would affect too many people and imagine the taxes the country would loose.

Wonder if all this will be forgotten when the next “big political thing” comes along.

Cow about to calve

Picture © zakgirlsfarm 2009

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This is Glynis. She was one of our stud Murray Grey cows who calved in 2004.

What is she doing? She is kicking at her side from the discomfort of something inside her. (Yep, there's a calf in there)...

The photo, to the untrained eye, may look something quite revolting or even rude with that line of white goopy stuff coming out of her vagina, but to the cattle farmer it shows imminent birth; this cow is about to give birth to its calf.

The average length of time for a cow to carry a calf to birthing is around 283 days or 9 months and 7 days. As a general easy calculation I always take the month of joining say March and count ten months to December and guestimate that the cow will calve around December.

Cows do pretty well calving on their *own and it is always best to leave them to themselves if you can. The less interference the greater the chance the cow will calve without problems.

*Any cows that need assistance should be *culled. If you do however, need to assist there are rules you should follow. More about that in another days blogging.

Note: To anyone who is interested, I have video footage of this cow calving. If you would like a copy, please leave a note on this blog. Contact: Zak